Anyone living in or previously lived in an intentional community ?

[RosemaryandThyme]

Hello, I live in an intentinal community and am wondering if anyone else does or did ?
Ours is a community for the education and welfare of it's members, of which there are about 9 families (plus a few floating extras) living in an collection of houses and a main maor house in a rural hamlet - anyone else in a similar position ?

So is that like a cult then?

I live in what I suppose you'd call an intentional community. I think thats a wanky name for it though (as does everyone else here) - we just call it a housing co-op.

No screwing around here though.

And no, it is absolutely fuck-all like a cult here!

Not a cult ime. Just a way of life that I didn't like as I got older and formed my own opinions.

We are just a group of crusties who choose to be members of a housing co-op in order to provide ourselves with affordable secure housing that we control ourselves.

We are all here out of choice and are all free to leave tomorrow if we want to.

Not a cult - thanks sounds a bit dark, our community is linked by a set of humanistic and educational values, others have a religous, spiritual, or enviromental ethos.
belgo - yes your right to wonder about others' intentions, here people can only stay if they are known by a community member and recommended, they are of course CRB checked, have two further refernces (which are always followed up), can pay their way and do so up-frount and commit to the life-style here.

maybe i was thrown by 'intentional community' , was a kibbutz in Israel I lived on, perhaps a different kind of community to what you are meaning.

Like the Amish?

Oh ok thanks...I think it was all the bed hopping that made me wonder.

How on earth does any group of people afford to buy a manor house and nine houses around it, and the land? Is there a benevolent billionaire in there?

Do you mean that you all live in one big house? What are the advantages?

Googled it. Looks interesting.

I spent part of my childhood in a commune - an incredibly unhealthy place for a child. Drug abuse, domestic violence, infidelity, unemployment - none of which were ameliorated by a macrobiotic diet & some meditation. Thankfully we weren't there for long.

I'm incredibly jaded & tend to just roll my eyes at the idealistic now.

A little bit like the Amish - no barn raising here but no fashion sense either !

I admit to having had to google for the meaning of "intentional community".

I'm not sure whether I would want to or not. I hope you don't mind me asking some stupid questions.

Do the members go out to work outside the community?
Are they allowed to sustain friendships with non members.
Are the children home educated?
Do you get enough privacy?
Do you take all your meals together?
What values do you all have in common to determine the nature of the community?

Sorry about all the questions, but I am genuinely curious.

I find the idea fascinating but am put off by the experiences being shared!!

I think that I am just too cynical-in my experience there may be a hidden agenda of 'intentions' by the person who set it up.

I don't understand why it's idealistic though- is it a bit Good Life-ish and self-sufficient? Or do the people just have normal jobs? I don't get the stuff about shared ideals- what does that actually mean, apart from just having enough in common to be able to stand living together?

OP, I think you are fabulous for taking some of the remarks so well.

I am quite interested about the set up, and which of your views are "out of this world". I live in very traditional set up myself :)

Line - yes there was a lot of money at the start of the community - the house, the estate lands and cottages were inherited by three of the four establishing community members, the cottages have subsequently be bought by arriving new members, over the years some of the land had been sold when funds were tight, mostly adult males work out-side the community.

never heard of it

but sounds like something a group of twats would do LOL

There's a huge range of "intentional communities" though - some are housing co-ops that are little more than long term house shares with a common interest. Some that are founded on more of a religious/spiritual basis might be more commune-y. And some are just opportunities to experience more collective living.

There will be different levels of resource-pooling/insularity/common purpose in individual communities.

Well I dunno how the OPs community manages but we have a large farmhouse and over 30 acres, which the co-op bought in the 90s. It was dirt cheap as the house was falling down and the land is all on steep slopes that make it impossible to cultivate so there is no profit in it.

The mortgage is paid by the fair and income-linked rent that we pay for our living accommodation, and we all contribute to bills (under £10 a week per adult for electricity, gas, water, wood, phone, broadband, loo roll, and cleaning stuff).

We maintain the land as it is a rare meadowland habitat due to never having been ploughed or fertilised, for which we get a grant from Natural England's stewardship scheme.

Oh well, let's all do that that then. Inherit Downton Abbey and pal up with a load of rich people.

Ah, "adult males" work outside- so does that mean that there are strict gender roles and women are all home and hearth then? That doesn't appeal to me at all, I have to say. If you are going to go to the trouble of setting up an alternative society, I can't see the point of replicating the mainstream's most oppressive aspects. Or have I misinterpreted you?